Discuss the Sources of Work Force Diversity

The work force diversity is defined as difference between employees of the organization on the basis of functional specialty, age, sexual orientation, life style & geographic origin etc. In other words those human characteristics that can make people different are covered in the area of work force diversity. Normally there are two broader sources of work force diversity that result into variations among people. One of them is related to that factor over which people have little or no control & the second one is based on the factor over which people have control. The work force diversity can become harmful for the productive team work of the organization if the management could not properly manage it.

The affirmative actions taken by the management is not considered to be effective diversity managing efforts. Rather, these affirmative actions are resulted by the pressure of government on the organizations. The international competition & trends of the natural environment fall under the area of diversity. In short the work force diversity that is also known as Cultural Diversity in the Work Placein some cases, and become a value able asset for the organization by improving the functional units of organization & indicating customer market.

Work Force Diversity Sources

In modern age, the diversity is much more than simple difference of skin color & gender. Besides it is utilized for defining all kinds of differences that are present in the human resource element of organization like workers of color, dual-career families, women in business environment, educational level of employees, older employees with disabilities etc. Following are some of the authentic sources that can lead diversity in the work force of organization. Among all these sources of work force diversity some came under the title of cultural diversity in the work place. Let see all of them in detail.

Mostly employees with color differences are marked as employees belong to different group. In such cases employees face misunderstanding & wrong expectations with each other on the basis of cultural difference & ethnic diversity.

Older Workers

It is a big fact that the overall population of world is growing older which has also directly affected the work force in the organizations. Therefore certain new policies are applied in the organizations to deal with this factor of work force diversity like reversal of early retirements.

Gender

In large organizations only 11.9% of the corporate officers are represented by the women. On the other hand the managerial positions occupied at the middle & lower levels by the women are increasing from a couple of years which creates the diverse environment in the organizations. Moreover there are many single parent families & most of them are headed by the women. So the number of women workers in the organizations is increasing which require different set of policies & rules of work.

Education

The educational level of employees is also becoming a source of work force diversity within organizations. Within organizations there are two ended employees having higher educational levels and quite lower educational level. So this situation requires effective HR policies to keep all the diversified work force as productive.

Dual Career Families

Dual Career families affect the organizations as both opportunities and challenges. Many organizations are making adjusting policies that facilitate the working of dual career families. Some organizations allow both partners to work with the same company. If any partner is transferred to another location, the spouse is also assisted to be transferred for a suitable position at the same location.

Religion & Culture

As the world is changing into a global village, there emerges a new kind of diversity in the form of difference of religion & culture among employees. Organizations are operating at a large scale in different locations which promotes such work force diversity. Such sorts of work force diversities know as cultural diversity at the work place.

Persons with Disabilities

Usually a disabled person is not considered as an effective worker & it is assumed that his disability become obstacle for his effective work. But now certain laws has been passed in western countries especially America, that inhibits the discrimination of qualified persons with disabilities.

Immigrants

The immigrants in different developed countries are increasing in their number including more educated, skilled workers & low educated, unskilled workers. All these immigrants have spirit to work hard & they bring their own cultural values & norms with them which would make the organizations diversified in many ways.

Young Individuals with Limited Skills & Education

Young unskilled & uneducated individuals are hired by many organizations during the peak seasonal periods which would create a diversified environment & many other performance issues for the HR department of the organization.

Competitive Advantage with Diverse Work Force

In old days, the organizations keep diverse work force due to legal & social aspects. But now the companies are focusing on diversity with respect to get competitive advantage. They favor the open & productive environment that shows value to the diversified employees. The workers in labor market also consider such organizations as favorable for them. In this way the qualified & skilled workers are attracted towards such organizations where they show their effective performance which would ultimately give edge to these organizations over against competitors.

Marketing

The diverse work force can be helpful for the organizations in understanding about the diverse customers that are located at different geographical areas. The organizations with multinational workforce can analyze the habits & preferences of different customers through their employees. In this way the more effective products are designed with more effective marketing campaigns for diversified customers.

Innovation, Creativity & Problem Solving

The innovation & creativity is promoted with the diverse work force because people with different backgrounds have different perspectives for certain problems. A diverse team holds wider experience for tackling different problems. When this team makes effort to solve the problems, it can develop more innovative options & solutions that cannot be considered by the homogeneous workforce.